


Radio Waves

by WheretheRiverflows



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: All the gays in these tags, Banter to the extreme, F/F, M/M, Slow Burn, This is based on pichiba’s radio show au, follow them on tumblr, rivals to lovers?, shyan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-05-13 19:50:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14755218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WheretheRiverflows/pseuds/WheretheRiverflows
Summary: Ryan Bergara, along with his best friend, started a radio show talking about various unsolved true crime stories and the supernatural. All seems to be going well until an anonymous caller starts calling Ryan out on his theories. As much as he tries to go on with the show as normal, he can’t help but be pissed off that this guy comes up here and thinks he can do what he wants. Not to mention that his voice is very hot and every time he calls, Ryan gets extremely flustered. What on Earth is a believer supposed to do now?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody! This is my first Shyan fanfic and it’s based mostly around an AU I stumbled across on a Tumblr called pichiba. Please go and follow them on Tumblr because they post really great content and have a look at their radio au tag!

_Ryan_

It was a normal night for Ryan so far. Well, his new normal. His radio show had been going so well and he’d only been doing it for half a week. He hadn’t expected to gain so many listeners in 4 days. He’d expected in maybe 4 months but definitely not 4 days.

The reasons it was unlikely was a very long list. The time stamp he was allowed to take was a major one. Ryan’s time stamp to talk about his one major passion in the entire world was constrained from 11:00 pm to 4:00 am. Who the hell would be awake at that time? Apparently a lot of people.

In the first two days, Ryan had gotten his watcher count to 100 and the next two days, it had bumped up to 300. Both him and his best friend and tech assistant, Megan, were pleasantly surprised by the outcome of the show.

The only reason had gotten the show in the first place was because of Megan. Her step father was a co-owner of a radio station that did some major and minor radio shows over the years. She had begged for two years for the two of them to get their own room and after her step father had made them learn about every single piece of equipment and made them pay a lease of $25 a month, they could use the studio.

Ryan wondered how they got away with such a small fee on the room but as Megan’s step father put it, “She has me wrapped around her little finger and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

And Megan was certainly captivating. She was tall, taller than Ryan and a little chubby. She had bleach blonde hair that just passed her shoulders from a haircut about two months ago and she was always dying it different colours. Her eyelashes were long and dark and they framed her hazel eyes and made them pop.

Overall, not a bad looking girl. Ryan would date her if he hadn’t been friends with her since college. Not to mention that Megan had a girlfriend and Ryan is bisexual with more than a little preference for guys.

Coming back to the present, Ryan opened the live chat and was immediately taken aback by the flood of people that entered the chat and immediately made it lag.

He put on his headset and flicked the switch to turn on his microphone. He grabbed his file, settled in his chair and only then did he signal Megan to start the music.

Immediately, the sounds of werewolf howls, evil laughter and cackling mixed with synth music flooded his ears and he held back his laugh, only letting out a small wheeze of laughter.

He silently cleared his throat before getting into his headspace for the radio show and put on his talk show host voice.

_Shane_

Shane yawned for possibly the 100th time since his late night shift had started. It wasn’t even that late, only 10:30. He didn’t know why he took the offer for the night shift. He hated working at night. He wanted to sleep, goddamnit. But his boss asked him and he was never one to say no to his boss.

Shane had been working with Buzzfeed for a while now and while he liked it and all the people he had met, he realised that he had been bored of his office job since he had upgraded from an intern to a full time employee.

You’d think that with all the weird shit that Buzzfeed does, it would keep him entertained enough but apparently not. Apparently the only excitement that went around here were other people’s break ups (his and Sara’s to be exact) and transferring from the day shift to the night shift.

Not many people were on the night shift. Mostly other interns but also new Buzzfeed workers that liked the peace and quiet. Most people were on the second story work area so Shane was left deserted downstairs.

The tall man had stretched back from his slightly hunched position and decided to wander around the office for a bit, maybe gather some snacks from the kitchen and go back to work. He did exactly that and came back 15 minutes later.

He turned on the small radio by his desk, a gag gift from Sara after they had broken up, and listened to some soft music for a while. As he worked, Shane thought of Sara.

Shane and Sara had been together for a while before Shane had realised something. He wasn’t... straight. He confided in Sara, told her everything he had figured out and also reassured her it was nothing she had done.

Sara, for her role, was very calm and open about the situation, saying that she was alright with it and that she appreciated Shane’s honesty. She thanked him for so many happy memories and that they could still remain friends if he wanted to.

They had indeed remained friends and went out for drinks often. Despite Sara’s friends all sending Shane evil eyes. Shane could live with it. He would rather people think he was a scumbag than live a lie.

The only reason people “hated” Shane was because he asked Sara not to tell people until he was ready to tell everybody. Which she also agreed to.

Shane jolted at the sound of a wolf howl coming in through the radio followed by an 80s synth chord. He squinted at the radio until the music faded and a man’s gravelly voice floated from it.

“Hello listeners, Ryan here and welcome back to Unsolved, a radio show where we talk about true crime and the supernatural. We’re currently in our first season of true crime cases and today we will be talking about the Black Dahlia, one of the most infamous unsolved murders of all time.”

Shane let out a ‘huh’ and leaned back, arms and legs crossed, thoroughly interested in what the guy had to say.

“Before we begin, I would just like to remind all viewers that we have a website, boogarastheories.com, where there is a live chat, all of the social medias both I and my friend use and a link to our podcast. And also a reminder that we have now implemented a call feature for after the story is read. I will conduct a Q&A session after every story is read. This portion of the show is to allow listeners to give their comments, questions and suggestions for the radio show. The number is on the website.”

Ryan repeated the website again with a spelling and Shane typed it into a new browser window. Indeed there was exactly what Ryan said there would be. He ignored the live chat and immediately noticed the number in the upper right corner of the header bar.

Returning his focus to the voice, Shane listened with rapt attention.

“On January 15th, 1947, the remains of 22 year old Elizabeth Short or as she is commonly known, The Black Dahlia, were discovered by Betty Bersinger on a morning stroll on the block of 3800 Norton Avenue in Los Angeles.”

Shane felt an involuntary shiver roll down his spine. He knew this story. Why did he get chills from it? Shane took a sip of his energy drink he had popped open and got back to work, listening to the radio show in the background.

About half an hour into the show, the voice appeared to have been startled.

“Jesus Christ!”

Shane himself jumped at how frightened the man had seemed.

“Sorry guys, the building supervisor walked into the other side of the studio and startled my friend which startled me. Getting back on topic...”

And the monotony returned.

“Although this case has been officially listed as unsolved for nearly 70 years, there’s no shortage of interesting suspects.”

Somewhere along in the show when Shane had maybe got up to stretch his legs around the office again, Ryan was now with a woman and she was making somehow incredibly timed comments about Ryan’s case and she would occasionally crack some sort of joke which made Ryan laugh.

“Meg, you can’t say that on live radio. This is a murder case.”

“Well, nothing screams innocent like a secret room,” a break in commentary for both of them laughing. “Did the kids know about the secret room they weren’t allowed into?”

The banter continued for a while before Ryan got them both back on track and began talking about George and Steve Hodel.

“He sounds like a 1950s mobster,” Meg said with a giggle.

Ryan went along with the joke, talking in a strange voice.

“They can’t talk to my secretary anymore because she’s dead.”

Both of them laughed and Shane found himself chuckling along with them.

“It seems like you’re trying to say that the LAPD is still trying to cover this up. Which, would make no sense because it’s been like 70 years,” said Meg with a sort of awe or disbelief in her voice.

The chatter goes back and forth between the two and then the file is closed.

“While Megan goes out of the studio to order us some food, I will gladly take phone calls to answer questions or give your input on this particular case.”

_Ryan_

Ryan shuffled with unease as he was left alone in the studio. Megan had placed the order and since the 24 hour Chinese place was 10 minutes away, she decided to get ready to go out in the chilly Los Angeles night.

Ryan watched as she slipped on a light jacket and her steel toed boots which she only wore at night. She then gathered her wallet, slipping it into the jackets deep front pocket and waving to Ryan as she walked out the door.

“Alrighty, called number one, you are now online.”

Ryan flipped the switch and was immediately met with feedback that made him cringe, though he was wearing headphones and it simply blasted through them anyway.

“Hello? Caller one?”

“Yes! Hi!”

A young woman’s voice sounded through the phone and it seemed as though she was at a party. After a few minutes of loud noises, a slam of a door and sudden silence made Ryan’s ears ring.

“So sorry about that! I’m at a party right now but I couldn’t just miss your show. I love it so much!”

“Aw, thank you so much! Though it’s two in the morning and you’re at a party? Listening to my radio show?”

“Yeah! It’s been the highlight of my week this week! I live for this shit and I have a few theories I’d like to share.”

“Go ahead, we’re listening.”

The woman went along with her theory which at one point contained aliens and Jack the Ripper. Ryan tried to seem open and interested and while he believed in extraterrestrial life, he didn’t think aliens would murder one young actress and then go along their merry way.

“Thank you, caller one for your input and stay safe at your party.”

“Thanks so much Ryan.”

Ryan ended the call and waited for somebody else to call, fumbling for his phone. It was only a little bit later that he got a second call.

“Hello, caller! What do you have to say?”

“Hello,” the voice began and Ryan nearly stopped cold. The voice was smooth and rich, like melted chocolate.

Ryan tried to shake himself out of his trance as he saw Megan come back in with the bag of Chinese food and began setting up the food onto plates they kept on the other side of the studio so that the radio show wouldn’t be ruined by plastic bag noises along with the opening of boxes and various eating noises.

“I’m a first time listener. I’m normally never up this late to even really consider this show but the later it gets, the more in the mood I am for your stories.”

“Thank you! That means so much! How did you happen to come across us?”

“Oh just flipping through channels on the radio.”

“Well, we’re glad you like the show and we hope you tune in tomorrow.”

The call ended and Ryan took a second to himself.

“Alright everybody. Before we continue with calls, we’re going to take a little bit of a break. I’ll be playing some hit songs from the 40s to go along with tonight’s case. We hope you enjoy them.”

Ryan signalled Megan, who flipped the switch to turn the three songs they had lined up. Then she brought the food in and Ryan turned off his mic.

“So....” Megan trailed off as she dug into her General Tso’s chicken.

Ryan pushed his sweet and sour pork around on his plate and avoided looking at her.

“That second caller had a nice voice, didn’t he.”

Ryan shrugged. He lifted his eyes to his best friend, who had raised one eyebrow at him.

“Okay, his voice was really sexy but it’s not like anything’s gonna happen from it!”

Megan hummed before continuing to eat. It seemed like she knew more than she let on but she would never tell.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thanks so much for being so patient! I got a stroke of inspiration while I was in class and slacked off on three class periods to write the rest of this chapter, switching between tabs so that my teachers couldn’t see what I was writing. Not to mention that not soon after I posted the first chapter, everyone on the internet got touchy about the exact thing that I’m writing about. So that scared me but I will persist. Thanks so much for all the bookmarks and kudos and comments! It makes me really happy that people liked my story. Hopefully the next chapter won’t take this long.

_Shane_

Shane let out a groan as he rose from his bed. It was currently 7:00 pm and he had work in two hours. He allowed his legs to drag him into the bathroom where he started the faucet on his bathtub.

Since obtaining his apartment, Shane had gotten used to taking baths instead of showers because for some goddamn reason, his landlord failed to mention that his apartment didn’t have a shower.

The bathtub was nice, of course. It somehow managed to fit all of Shane except for the tops of his knees (unless he crossed his legs of course) but sometimes you just want a quick shower.

Shane stripped out of his pyjamas, flannel bottoms with a matching long sleeved t-shirt top, (an ironic gift from his shittily fantastic brothers) and turned to look at himself in the mirror with his boxers still on.

As the steam from the hot water fogged up the mirror around the edges, Shane took a deep breath and placed his hands on his hips.

“I, Shane Madej, am gay.”

There were a few seconds of silence before he broke down and snorted. Without his glasses, Shane just looked like a skinny white guy sort of blob. Though one of the guys he’d picked up after breaking up with Sara called him ‘toned’.

Speaking of his best friend, Shane stepped out of the bathroom to retrieve his phone when he heard it ping. He trotted back into the warm room and put his phone down on the counter before turning off the faucet.

Shane pulled his boxers off before pulling up Spotify and calling up his bath time playlist. Yes, he had a bath time playlist. Yes, it was a lot of sappy and romantic songs. No, he did not care, he lived by himself. He was a grown man, he could do what he wanted.

Shane lowered himself into the tub while pulling up his new message from Sara. She had sent him a picture with a caption. Why she didn’t just send him a snap was beyond him.

The picture was of Sara with her friends and a couple of other guys from Buzzfeed. Shane recognised Steven, Andrew, Adam and a few others. One guy who’s name had escaped Shane, appeared to be standing too close to Sara for comfort. But Shane couldn’t be like that.

He and Sara weren’t dating anymore. And he certainly didn’t want to be “that gay best friend”. He just felt the urge to push the guy away very strongly.

Sara’s caption said, ‘Wish you could hang with us but I know your probs still sleeping. Have fun working the spook shift!”

Shane allowed himself to chuckle as he pulled his legs up to his chest, taking a selfie with his face half hidden and his hair droopy from the steam.

“Not sleeping. Bath time is best time. Don’t strain yourself. You were always a lightweight. Make sure that guy keeps his respectful distance.”

Shane shook his head and deleted the last sentence. That was too much. He put ‘be safe!’ in its place and hit send.

Putting his phone on do not disturb and turning the volume up louder before placing it on the counter, Shane submerged himself in water before coming back up, gasping just slightly.

He reached for his shampoo and began his “morning routine”.

Once he had finished, he pulled himself from the tub and dressed himself. He pulled on a black t-shirt and some jeans and matching black socks. Something about the night shift made Shane want to dress differently but he couldn’t figure out why.

Shane made his way to the kitchen and uttered a soft ‘shit’ when he saw the time on the clock. It was 8:30 and his shift started in 45 minutes. He could only grab something quick.

He grabbed two granola bars and an orange and rushed out the door to his car. He was jangling all over the place with his Buzzfeed identification, his car keys, his work keys, backpack and computer bag filled with everything he needed.

It was a speedy drive to Buzzfeed considering that people usually weren’t driving around at this particular time, either tucked away in bars or restaurants or at home.

Shane clocked in right at 9:15 and made his way to his desk, dumping the contents of his arms all over the floor and his desk before sitting it his chair and letting out a loud sigh.

Shane flipped on the radio before he even fully processed what he was doing and was disappointed to find out that the radio show he listened to last night wasn’t on. He turned on his computer and clicked on the bookmark he made for the radio shows site.

_Show runs from 11:00 pm-4:00 am._

Damn.

Shane cracks his knuckles and decides that he better get some work done at the very least.

_Ryan_

Ryan is here earlier than usual. Megan isn’t even here yet. He doesn’t know why. But his body made him wake up earlier than normal. He arrived at the studio at 10:00, a whole thirty minutes than he was really supposed to be there.

The voice from yesterday’s radio show popped up into his head but Ryan shoved it back down.

‘People have attractive voices, Bergara. That doesn’t mean you have to pop a boner because of it.’

“I’m not popping a boner,” Ryan muttered as he walked down the hall to the studio. Unfortunately at that same time, a janitor walked past him. He didn’t see the look on her face but he could probably guess.

God, why was he so awkward?

Ryan unlocked the studio door and stepped in, toeing off his slip on shoes. He dropped his messenger bag onto the couch in the room just outside of the recording studio.

After fumbling with the lamp switch, Ryan yelped and fell on his ass to see someone standing in the corner! Only, the person wasn’t moving and didn’t appear to be there to scare him. Ryan lifted himself on his knees and looked at the figure again.

It was Elizabeth Short!

“Do you love her or do you love her?”

Megan’s voice startled Ryan again and he fell forward this time. His friends ringing laugh made his face warm and he got on his hands and knees before pushing himself off the floor and standing.

“Where did you find that? There’s no way they sell that on Amazon.”

“Well I Googled a picture of her and I blew it up. I also tried to make it as high quality as possible, which I think I did a pretty good job with. Then I printed her out here on the studios jumbo paper which I didn’t even know we had until I thought of the idea. I took her home and glued her to some cardboard and brought her back here!”

Ryan shook his head as he approached the cardboard cut out. Elizabeth Short was certainly beautiful from the good pictures he had seen online.

“Do you ever sleep?”

Megan brushed off the question by continuing to talk.

“I figured we could do this every case we have. That’s where that Australia poster came from, for the Somerton Man. The Germany poster for Hinterkaifeck farm and the Cecil Hotel poster for Elisa Lam. I wanted to put them up inconspicuously but I knew you would freak at that one so,” Megan trailed off with a shrug.

“That’s amazing! But since you scared me, you’re paying for dinner tonight.”

Megan laughed.

They got to work quickly, prepping for tonight’s show. They were doing the Zodiac Killer and Ryan had a feeling of dread in his stomach.

“What are you gonna do for tonight’s show?”

“That would ruin the surprise, you’ll see tomorrow,” Megan said with a smirk.

Ryan shook his head affectionately and continued fiddling with his mic settings until he was satisfied.

“I can’t wait for our true crime sessions to be over,” Megan suddenly spoke.

“Why,” Ryan asked, turning to the woman who was also fiddling with her equipment.

“I don’t know. Just the fact that these things are real and they happened not that long ago and that if they weren’t found, they could still be out there scares me.”

Ryan chewed on his lip.

“Do you want me to get dinner tonight?”

“Hell no. You’re the voice of the show! Literally. I could not talk for that long without my voice being wrecked the next day. Plus, what if sexy guy voice calls again.”

Ryan shoved Megan’s chair with his foot and she went rolling slightly.

“Let’s just start the show.”

Megan did as he asked, leaving the studio to go to the switchboard on the other side of the big window. She made a face at him and Ryan made one back. Ryan opened the live chat on the website and smiled at the telltale lag. The music started and Megan managed to get back into her roller chair before it ended.

“Hello listeners, Ryan here and welcome back to Unsolved, a radio show where we talk about true crime and the supernatural. Today we will be talking about the Zodiac Killer, one of the most horrifying cases of murder ever.”

Megan shudder and Ryan placed the back of his hand on her arm to keep from laughing.

“In the late 60s and early 70s, the Zodiac Killer terrorised Northern California. Killing at least five people and claiming to have killed 37 people in total.”

“37,” disbelief coloured Megan’s voice.

“He claims to have killed 37 people.”

“Like he wrote a note?”

“Yeah... he was a... he was a douchebag.”

Ryan continued to tell the story, seeing Megan wrinkle her nose or shiver in disgust at the acts of this man.

“At this time, nobody knew that this was the work of a serial killer.”

Ryan jumped and knocked his microphone as the A/C turned on and Megan covered her mouth to hide her snort.

“Sorry guys, the A/C turned on. Back to the story.”

Ryan could see Megan writing something on a piece of paper but ignored it until said piece of paper was slid across the desk to him.

‘Maybe sexy radio voice guy can save you.’

Ryan blushed and slid the paper under the desk, crumpling it and throwing it at his friend, who batted it away. He stuck his tongue out at her to show he wasn’t really mad and kept on going.

“Mageau was able to make out the face of the man who shot him and described him as a young, white man, approximately 26 to 30 years old, stocky, 200 pounds or larger, about 5’8 with light brown curly hair and a large face.

“Within an hour, the police received a phone call from someone claiming to be the shooter. He also claimed to be the shooter in the Lake Herman Road murders.”

“What a cocky asshole.”

Ryan wheezed a laugh and smacked his friend on the arm. Megan just gave him a smile in response.

“He was a cocky asshole, you’re right. But can I keep going? He gets worse.”

Megan flicked her hand to show that he could indeed go on. Ryan flipped the page and started talking about the Zodiac’s letters.

“The letters were signed with a distinct mark, a circle with a cross through it, the mark that would eventually become known as the mark of the Zodiac Killer.”

Ryan would never let this be known to anyone, not even his best friend, but whenever he read these stories out loud, he would space out. He would get in his special headspace and only really break out of it when Megan made a comment about something or asked a question.

Maybe it was his brains way of self preservation to keep him from imploding every time he even thought of scenarios like this happening to anyone he knew or even himself.

Either way the stories passed fairly quickly even if they took an hour or so.

"Why did they print them," Megan spoke incredulously.

"Because he said that if they didn't print them, he would kill more."

"That just creates fear and gives the killer what they want."

"But at the same time, I wouldn't want death on my hands either," Ryan pointed out, raising his eyebrows at his friend.

"It's not your hands, you're not killing anybody. That guy is killing somebody."

"True."

"You not printing something has nothing to do with whether or not someone is going to kill someone."

As time went on, Ryan watched Megan's face form into one of horror. Especially when Ryan started reading the deciphered code on the letter.

"What a sick fuck," Megan muttered. "Since when do you get to keep slaves in the afterlife?"

Ryan wheezed.

"Well, apparently that's common knowledge in crazy town. Also, this dude must've skipped class the day they taught run-on sentences because that shit was ridiculous."

Despite the serious tone, Megan laughed and cleared her throat before continuing.

"Also, this guy sounds like just the biggest bro-douche ever, right? 'Killing is better than getting my nuts off with a girl?' Like, shut up."

Both young adults burst into giggles and they had to curb themselves by drinking water.

The case continued on as normal and it became that time when Megan went out to get dinner. So she left the studio and Ryan was left to his own devices. Unlike last time, he was still reading off the theories and suspects of the case.

It unnerved him to be alone in here so he quickly went through the rest of the theory and closed the case.

_Shane_

Shane rubbed his arms as Ryan's voice slowly trailed off into a sort of gravely tone. The story was chilling on its own but the combination of Ryan's emotionless voice made it all the more intense. Shane shouldn't say that he didn't like it because he did. Ryan was just able to set the mood really well.

Shane decides this moment to go on break and he queues the radio show up to his phone and plugs his headphones into the headphone jack. With his phone in his pocket and his jean jacket over his shoulders, Shane heads out onto the sidewalk to stretch his legs. He rolls his head on his neck a couple times, relishing in the cracking noises coming from it.

He begins to whistle a jaunty tune, just for fun. He stops in his tracks when he sees something moving out of the corner of his eye. He stumbles a bit, definitely not expecting anyone to be out at this time. He comes face to face with a blonde girl. 

She's shorter than him, at least by half a foot and dressed in all black. Her white blonde locks shine and make a halo around her head from the street lights. She's carrying a big bag of Chinese food.

"Jesus Christ," she says, clutching her chest, her dark purple nail polish flashing in the light.

"Nope, sorry. Not him. I didn't mean to scare you though. I will be honest, you probably scared me more than I scared you."

A smirk twisted her lips and she raised her chin at him, her eyes glittering with something akin to mirth.

"Well, as fun as this was, I must get back to my friend. He's probably starving right now," she said, holding up the big bag.

"Right, right. See ya, then," Shane says as the two of them crossed paths.

"See ya!"

Curiously, Shane watched her as she walked away, wondering where she could be going. As luck would have it, she walked into the building two down and across the street from Buzzfeed headquarters.

 As Shane turned around and continued on his walk, something itched in the back of his mind.

That girls voice sounded oddly familiar.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for your nice comments on the first and second chapter. As I was writing, I saw this story had been in hibernation since May, which is when I first posted it. I am very sorry about that. But I'm writing this on (11/20/18) so hopefully the next update won't be too far off from now.  
> (Edit: 1/18/19) So a little later than I planned on updating but holy shit guys, Happy New Year!! I had a snow day so I thought, what better time to update my current favorite story than now? I've had such terrible writers block so I'm very sorry. I also seem to only be able to update on school vacations. I'm sorry about that. But I hope you enjoy this chapter!

_Ryan_

Ryan rushed into the outside studio, out of breath and a thin sheen of sweat everywhere on his body. He saw Megan sitting in the recording area, spinning on one of the desk chairs. She leaned forward and pressed a button on the panel.

"You're lucky I didn't start without you. Look on the far wall."

Ryan did so and saw a poster of a man jumping out of a plane with money flying all around him with wrap around sunglasses.

"D.B Cooper! I didn't think anyone drew fan art of him."

Ryan kicked off his shoes and shucked off his jacket, spreading them around the studio like it was his own apartment. As Ryan entered the recording area, Megan rolled across the floor and stopped herself against Ryan's knees.

"I actually drew it."

"Seriously, do you ever sleep?"

"It was for our season finale of true crime. I had to!"

Ryan flopped down into his chair, causing it to roll back slightly before he grabbed the edge of the desk. He opened the chat and rolled towards the panel. Ryan wiggled his fingers across the board and Megan laughed at him.

"Don't do that you weirdo," she said, pulling herself from the chair to press the button that would start their intro. Ryan looked into the studio and saw the evidence of their radio show plastered across the walls. Replicas of the Zodiac Killers letters were taped in a row directly across from Ryan. A poster of Jaws to represent Michelle Von Emster. (Megan, you little shit.) An orange juice carton with O.J. Simpsons face on it. It would've been strange to anybody else that had the unfortunate luck of walking into the studio but the two young adults found themselves overjoyed with the decorating.

Megan watched the clock before flourishing her hand and pressing the comically large button, the synth wave music washing over Ryan. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax into his alter ego. Now was the time when he could be anybody but loser Ryan Bergara whose only interest was in unsolved mysteries.

Now wasn't the time to reflect on his social life. Now, they were on air.

_Shane_

Shane flipped on the radio as soon as it turned 11. The intro song made him smile, as it usually did.

“Hello listeners, Ryan here and welcome back to Unsolved, a radio show where we talk about true crime and the supernatural. Today is our first season of our supernatural segment so let’s not waste any time and just get right into it.”

The smile immediately left Shane’s face. Oh no, this guy was supposed to be intelligent and now he was ruining it by mentioning the supernatural? How was Shane supposed to have a crush on Ryan when he talked about things like ghosts?

Yes, Shane didn’t believe in ghosts. No, there wasn’t a thing you could do to make him believe.

 "Today we'll be covering the real life men in black. Are they real? Are they as charming as their Hollywood counterparts?"

"You know, watching Men in Black, I never knew it was based on a true story."

Both Megan and Ryan dissolved into giggles and Shane let out a huff in a mock laugh. He really liked Megan. She was cynical and had the same dry humor that he did. Shane focused in on what Ryan was now saying.

"The men in black seem to only talk to two kinds of people: those who claim to have seen a UFO and those who research UFO's. They present themselves as part of a secret organization, sometimes even producing a white card with a crest and the word 'Security' on it."

Shane grimaced at ever coming face to face with a man in black. The men themselves were not dangerous, they were just people. But the power people believe they have is frightening, as there is no telling how much handle they actually have in the lives of people who say they're seen a UFO.

 "Think of them as the cleaners of the extraterrestrial universe."

"How much black do they actually wear? Do they look like the Men in Black that we see in the movies," Megan asks, a genuinely curious tone to her voice.

"We'll get into what they really look like later," Ryan replied, seemingly smiling though Shane couldn't see it.

"Once they pull apart their skin," Megan began. Ryan seems to choke on water or something and say 'okay'. "and an alien comes out."

Shane could imagine a man in a nice suit unzipping himself like that one episode of Doctor Who and a slimy alien popping out. He shuddered and then blushed as he saw one of the late night interns looking at him funny. He gave a small wave from over his monitor and hunkered down. Well that was embarrassing.

Now Ryan was talking about a man named Harold Dahl and his experience.

"One of the objects fell apart, spilling debris that killed his dog and injured his son. He took photos of the debris but said they were later fogged over by a man in black, who told him not to speak of the incident."

Megan asked about the description of the donuts and Ryan was in disbelief. Shane himself was curious of the answer and a quick Google search revealed that donuts had first been mentioned in 1803 and then Hanson Gregory claimed to make them in 1847. But who could trust Wikipedia these days.

Shane began tying a script for a new video while listening to the radio show, laughing along with the two hosts as they continued with their banter. 

"The man asked if Dr. Hopkins was alone and if they could review research. Dr. Hopkins agreed and by the time he hung up the phone and turned on the lights outside, Dr. Hopkins claimed the man was somehow already coming up the stairs to his door."

Shane could feel his skin crawling as the description of the man in black was described, stumbling almost when Ryan said the part about ruby red lips. Why ruby red with pale, plastic looking skin? That was horrifying already.

"Question," Megan said with a wavering voice.

"Oh god."

Megan wheezed and laughed.

"He's pale right? Really tight fake skin but the thing they choose to make real is the ruby red lips."

Ryan giggled.  _God, that was cute._

"They put all their technology into making those lips super realistic but the rest of the man... he can't speak normal and he looks horrifying, like his face is white."

All the while Megan is talking, Ryan's laugh gets louder and more boisterous and he occasionally starts gasping for breath. 

"Let's get back on track now."

Ryan describes the incident with the coin and Shane's interest is piqued. Not because he believes that magic exists or that the man in black is of any supernatural background but he wonders if there was any kind of drug used to make Dr. Hopkins hallucinate like that.

 "If you tell the story, no one's gonna believes you first off and second off, you're gonna look like a crazy person."

Megan made a noise of confirmation in her voice as if Ryan was already telling her he'd seen aliens.

 Ryan went into the story of Dan Aykroyd and Shane cracked his knuckles, listening with rapt attention. Shane thought to himself that a black Ford sedan was suspicious all on its own but the addition of the man in black made it that much creepier. 

Shane would admit, only to himself in the privacy of his own mind, that he believed in aliens. Only a teeny, tiny bit though. Not enough to call himself a believer. But so many people giving so many accounts across the world couldn't all be lying.

"Why is it not the government? Why is it some weird alien organization coming after them," Megan asked.

"If that were to be true, that would mean that the government is in accordance with these aliens already."

"So," Megan began with what sounded like a smile on her face. "The men in black could show up at Obama's desk and be like "Hey, stop looking for aliens.""

Ryan's laugh broke up whatever Megan was saying, something about pesky humans.

 The radio went silent as Megan and Ryan were watching the found security footage of the men in black, with Megan making tiny remarks about how creepy they look. Shane wished he could watch what they were watching.

"Okay. So, I believe in this stuff, you know that. Everyone who's listening in should know that. Or at least now you do. But- can I be one hundred percent honest? They just look like business men."

"So you just think there's two abnormally large-"

"They were abnormally large?"

"They looked- Okay. Look at this guy right here. Either he's really tiny or-"

"So basketball players are aliens."

Ryan laughed again, the high pitched noise making Shane have to turn down his speakers a bit. He liked the guys laugh, it was just a bit too loud.

"Unfortunately, most cases of UFO or alien encounters come in the form of first person accounts and the men in black are no different. Do they exist? Are they from the government. Are they even human? Ultimately, it comes down to what you believe. Me personally, I believe that while they may not be aliens, even I can't believe that, i do believe that there may be a government agency out there that would regulate these sorts of things, to prevent mass hysteria," Ryan said, switching from his radio voice to his normal voice when he started talking about his personal views on the men in black.

"Yeah, I get that. I don't think they're aliens either. I think they're another branch in the government that we don't know about, you know? Something like the CIA but more dangerous and better equipped to handle things like the unnatural," Megan said with a creak that Shane assumed was her leaning back in her chair.

"Fair enough. Now that the main part of the show is done, it's time for questions. I'll open the phone lines after Megan and I take a small break."

A click and some 80's song came over the speakers. Shane took this time to go to the bathroom and stretch his legs, leisurely shuffling through the dark office. His boss said that he could turn on the lights if he wanted but he took some comfort in the darkness, as much as that made him sound like an angst riddled teen.

Shane approached his desk and plops down in his seat with a huff, smiling as he heard a clatter and Ryan's voice come through the speakers.

_Ryan_

"Welcome back everyone, thank you for waiting patiently. I will now open the phone lines so call in and lets talk. Do you believe in aliens? Do you have any  _encounters_ with aliens?"

Ryan's fingers twitched as he watched the switchboard light up almost immediately. He swirled his finger around on the board and chose number 3 at random.

"Hello caller, you are now online."

"Hey, yeah. I didn't know that this was gonna be an alien radio show. Is it always gonna be like this?"

Ryan flinched at the harsh tone. This is not what he wanted when he opened calls.

"Well, no. We just finished our first season of true crime and we're in the supernatural season. So it alternates. If this isn't your cup of tea, you can always check our website to see what story we'll be doing that night."

"Cool. Thanks."

The caller hung up before Ryan could thank them for their call and he was flustered for a moment. Then he turned to the switchboard again.

"Alright, thank you caller number one. Onto the next one."

Ryan went through a few calls, letting people tell their stories about whether they believe or not and even some minor encounters. One person asked if Megan was single, to which Ryan replied with hanging up and saying that 'This isn't a radio show for you to pick people up. Please take this seriously.'

Ryan's mood had turned sour as soon as the first caller. Why did people have to be so negative? He could tell he was scowling from Megan's facial expression as she came through the door. Ryan waved at her and she waved back, a quizzical look on her face.

Ryan pushed the button on the switchboard for his last caller.

"Hello, caller number ten. You are online."

"Hey Ryan, thanks again for a good show. Your banter with Megan really makes my night shift way less boring."

Ryan flailed to Megan on the other side of the glass. It was the guy with the sexy voice! Megan rushed in with their dinner and sat down in her seat silently.

"Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. What did you think of tonight's topic?"

The voice made a noise of hesitation before speaking.

"Well, I don't really believe in the supernatural all that much."

Ryan felt his heart sink.

"But, even so, I do think that out of all the things in the universe, aliens seem most likely to exist. I do look forward to whatever else you do in your season of supernatural."

"Thank you very much, caller. Have a good night."

"You too," the gravely voice spoke, sending a shiver down Ryan's spine.

Ryan disconnected the call and then the radio show ended not long after that.

The two friends parted ways at the front of the radio station with Ryan watching carefully as Megan drove down the empty street in her car. When she turned the corner, Ryan turned the opposite direction and began walking home, thoughts swirling in his mind.

Once Ryan entered his one room apartment, he shucked off his clothes until he was in his boxers and went over to his little section of kitchen. He pulled out a can of soda and popped the tab. A buzz from his pants on the floor made him go over to the article of clothing and fish his phone out of the pocket.

'Shane Madej and 20+ others followed you!'

 With his phone glued to his hand, Ryan sat cross legged on his bed and tapped the Instagram app. It was the radio shows Instagram page, that which only had two posts. One of the setup on the night before they aired and another, a selfie of him and Megan. They were standing with the Elizabeth Short cardboard cut out and cheesing like their lives depended on it.

Ryan logged out of the shows Instagram and locked his phone, flopping on his bed after placing his soda on the night stand. Ryan's eyes flickered over the ceiling and he outlined the different shapes in the plaster, something he always did to calm down after a long day. The last thought on his mind before he went to sleep was, of course, the mysterious, sexy voice man.

"Who are you, mystery man," Ryan murmured, letting his eyes finally close as he fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.


End file.
